The Barbarian of Beylix
by setaysha
Summary: Set before the movie. Follow on from the series... Mal's life is getting much too interesting with the rescue of this mysterious girl. We learn of her history, and the crew heads off to a new job that will make Mal confront some old demons. R/R please
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

River Tam sat at the kitchen table of the spaceship _Serenity_, her chin resting lightly on her clasped hands. She stared intently at an apple, only centimeters from her face.

Jayne Cobb walked into the room, his boots echoing on the metal floors. He saw River's back, but didn't stop to wonder what she was doing. He was getting more than sick of her craziness. Now there was talk she might be a reader. Jayne reckoned that some things were better left in the dark, his mind included.

He rifled around for a moment in the kitchen, in search of something that wasn't protein. Then he spotted the apple on the table. Slowly approaching it, and River, from behind he broke the silence:

"You gonna eat that?"

"I can see the atoms," River replied, an elvish grin playing on her features, "It's all made of atoms." She turned to him. "Can you see them? Can you see the atoms?"

Jayne huffed, "All I can see is an apple, and if you ain't gonna eat it, I am. Now, do you want it?"

"Yes I want it. This is my apple, my atoms."

He paused for a moment.

"Are you gonna to eat it?" he asked.

"No."

"Then why do yo-," he shook his head angrily, "Gorram!" He stormed out of the kitchen, bumping into Simon.

"Are you alright?" Simon asked.

"Gorram crazy girl, belongs in a bughouse, takin' my apples, doesn't even want to eat em, _go-se_ atoms." Jayne continued to mumble as he stomped down the walkway.

Simon watched him leave confused. Shaking his head he turned to River, who was still staring at the apple.

"What are you doing _mei-mei_?" Simon said, helping himself to a glass of water.

"I'm watching the atoms."

"What do they look like?"

River hesitated for a moment, "Busy," she finally replied.

"Do you want to eat that apple?"

"No, you can have it," she said as she got up and walked out of the kitchen.

Simon watched her leave with a sad expression on his face, sometimes he wondered what River would be like now, if the Alliance hadn't made her what she was. Wistful thinking in the end.

Sighing he picked up the apple and walked out of the kitchen passing Jayne on his way to the passenger dorms. Jayne's face creased as he watched Simon munching on the apple, his apple. Maybe he should have let the Alliance take those two off his hands.

* * *

In the cockpit Wash, Mal and Zoe were observing the planet in front of _Serenity_.

"I don't like this Captain," Zoe remarked.

"What do you mean?" Mal asked.

"Why would Sully have us meet on this rock in the middle of nowhere. He's not based anywhere near the rim. It's just doesn't seem right."

"Look Zoe, this is Alliance stuff we're moving, and I can understand if Sully doesn't want the Alliance poking its nose into our business. They never come to this part of the verse anyhow, so I suppose that Sully figures here is as good a place as any for a drop."

"I'm afraid I'm with Zoe here Mal," Wash said, "This whole planet worries me."

"There's nothing wrong with the planet Wash. This is the dead side anyway. Ain't no settlers come this far across, so ain't no one going to disturb our peace."

"If you think it's all good Captain, how come we ain't heard from Sully yet?"

"He probably got held up with something. If I had a boat in as bad a shape as his, I expect I'd be late all the time."

"Uh, Captain, you do have a boat in as bad a shape as his," Zoe remarked.

"Well, he doesn't have genius mechanic working on his does he? Now, call me as soon as you hear from Sully."

Mal walked out of the cockpit and down the stairs, leaving Zoe and Wash alone. Wash sighed.

"One day, I hope we'll learn that while taking from the Alliance is fun, it's not worth what comes after."

"Learn? Come on baby, like that's going to happen," Zoe laughed as she kissed Wash on the head and rested her eyes on their next drop point.

"You think it's a trap?" Wash asked.

"I'd put money on it."

* * *

Mal hurried up to the cockpit, and sat in the pilot's chair. Wash and Zoe stood off to the side, outside of the view of the camera. The ugly face of Sully filled the screen in front of Mal.

"Ah Mal, so nice to be finally seein' you," he said.

"Well I have to say Sully, that I'd much rather it if I could be seeing you in the flesh. This drop was supposed to happen hours ago."

"Had some problems at our last stop with port control, but we're on our way now."

"How far out are you exactly, if you don't mind my asking. I don't want to be wastin' my time here."

"And you won't be. Believe me Mal, I'm the best price you is gonna get for that cargo, marked as it is. We'll be at Beylix in less than a day. Why don't you go ahead and park yourself on world, save the fuel."

"Now now, if we did that, how could you know where we were?"

"You could just wave us when you land with your location. That way, when we do get into atmo, we'll be able to mosey on down to you, make the exchange, and be out of each other's lives."

"While that is mighty appealing Sully, I can't help but be thinking that you're setting me up for some kind of trap."

"Trap? Where's your faith Mal? We might have had some troubles in the past, but there ain't going to be any troubles here, I can assure you."

Mal paused, ignoring Zoe shaking her head and signaling for him to refuse the offer.

"Ok then Sully, we'll make our way down and wave you with our coordinates."

He switched off the wave before Sully could say anything else. Sighing, he leaned back in the chair, then swung around to face Zoe and Wash.

"How's your feeling about this now Captain," Zoe asked, her arms crossed in front of her.

"It's going through a bit of a change I have to say. But, nothing we can do about it. We don't have the fuel to waste it floating up here without no purpose. Wash, bring us down."

"Yes sir," Wash said, sliding himself back into his seat as Mal stood up.

"Well," Wash said as Mal left the cockpit, "This should be interesting."

Shaking her head, Zoe followed Mal out of the room.

* * *

"Captain!" Zoe called, as she ran after Mal, "I need to talk to you."

"Zoe, I know you don't think this is a good idea, but the truth is, it's the only one we got." Mal turned to face her, "This cargo is burning a hole in my hull, and I want no more to do with it."

"I can see that Captain, but I don't want us to end up in a situation where this coin ain't the only thing we're fightin' for."

Mal sighed, "We've dealt with Sully before Zoe-"

"And that means you trust him? The only reason he didn't cut you up last time was because we had the advantage."

"Then I guess we better figure out a way to get the advantage again."

"Captain-" Zoe started, but Mal stopped her.

"Tell Wash to pick a place that's nice and open. I want to be able to see him comin'."

Zoe tightened her lip, "Will do Captain," she said, and went back the way she came.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_Serenity _touched down in the middle of a field. The sun shined hot and bright as Jayne opened her doors and walked outside. Kaylee, Simon, River and the Shepherd closely followed him.

"Sure is nice to see the sun again, huh," Kaylee observed.

"Sure would be nicer if we knew what we was doing here," Jayne commented, spitting on the ground."

"I thought we were getting rid of this cargo?" Simon gestured at the boxes stacked in the hold.

"We are, but our buyer is messin' round with our heads. I don't like where it's going."

"I have the same feeling Jayne," Zoe said, appearing from the ship, and walking into the sunshine, "But all we can do is be prepared for what's going to happen."

She stopped for a moment, taking in her surroundings. Wash had put them as far from any farming land as he could figure, but there was still a chance, like always, that people had settled out in this area. Even though it wasn't as fit for farming as the other side of this rock, desperation drove people to do funny things.

"Jayne," she finally said, "You take the mule and do a sweep of the area. I want us cleared on all sides at least a few clicks. If you see any, I mean any, sign of settlers or Sully, you get on the pipeline and tell us where it's at. _Dohn mah_?"

"Will do," he said, and went to retrieve the mule.

"The rest of you," Zoe began, bringing her eyes to the rest of the crew, "Keep on your toes and tell me if you see anything that looks out of place. We don't know this world and it's grinding on me."

They all nodded and began to turn to go inside.

"Oh and Simon?" Zoe started, he turned, "You'd best be keeping a very close eye on that sister of yours. This is exactly the kind of time when we wouldn't want her walking off."

Simon nodded carefully, "Of course."

Everyone went inside, and with a roar, Jayne flew down the ramp and skidded onto the dirt. Zoe nodded him on and he sped off into the distance.

* * *

The crew were in the kitchen, sitting around a table having dinner. Talking was strained, and the tension was obvious. Finally Jayne spoke.

"How much longer are we gonna wait here Captain?"

"I don't want to be talkin' bout this around the table Jayne, but we can discuss it later," Mal replied.

"Later? We've already been here two days. I ain't happy, you ain't happy, and I know Zoe ain't happy cos she's been just about ready to kill everyone on this boat! Where the hell is Sully?"

"_Chur ni-duh_," Zoe said angrily, glaring at Jayne, "You've got no right to be speaking on my behalf."

"Why's that? Seems to me that you ain't got no way to speak up to the Captain yourse-"

"_BEE-jway_!" Mal yelled, "I'll have none of this nonsense on my boat! Sully will be here any time now, and we are ready for him. I'm not going to have my own crew bring me down. Are we clear?"

Silence echoed around the table. Wash's voice suddenly echoed out on the intercom.

"Captain, Sully is sending us a wave."

Grabbing his plate, Mal walked out of the kitchen, leaving the others to stew in silence. He quickly made his way to the cockpit, and handing resting his food on the controls he confronted Sully.

"I'm not impressed with this Sully. This waiting is just the kind of thing that would make a man not want to do business with someone again."

"No need to get yourself worried Mal," Sully said, his voice thick with fake sweetness, "We are heading towards you this very moment, in fact, I'd rather like to get this exchange out of the way as soon as possible."

"You mean tonight?"

"If you ain't otherwise engaged. Surely you're not wanting to sit on this rock for longer than is needed."

"You're right about that. How are we going to work this?"

"Seeing as you're parked and all, we'll just come to you. See you in an hour."

Sully disconnected the wave, leaving Mal to ponder his words. Mal turned to Wash,

"You'd better go and get some food there Wash, it's gonna be a long night."

* * *

Mal looked out over the field, keeping one eye on the sky as he waited for Sully's ship to arrive. Next to him, Zoe stood expectantly. The rest of the crew were inside, guns at the ready, except Jayne, who was posted just outside the circle of light, Vera in hand, as backup. Suddenly, the sound of motors filled the air and in the distance, a number of lights break over the horizon. Mal's mouth creased up.

"Mules!" he hissed, "What is that _ri shao gou shi bing _up to?"

"No idea Captain, but I think that we'll be finding out soon enough," Zoe said, tightening her grip on her gun.

Sully and his boys pulled up on their mules, and Sully sauntered on over to Mal with a grin on his face.

"It's funny Sully," Mal said, "But I thought that we had agreed on you putting your boat here next to mine, so we could make this exchange."

"Is that what we agreed?" Sully flashed another rotten grin, "Because alls I remember sayin' is that I was gonna meet you at your ship. I don't believe I ever specified that my ship would also be in the picture. Now, where's my cargo?"

"Where's my coin?"

Sully pulled out a bag and shook it, allowing Mal to hear the reassuring sound of coins clicking against each other. Mal gestured behind him and Wash pulled the crates into view on a trolley.

"Well," Mal said, "Seems to me that everything is in order."

He reached out for the bag of coins, but Sully snatched it away.

"Not so fast Mal. You see, I'm afraid I have a little problem."

Mal tensed, "And what might that be?"

"I've heard from a certain pretty woman that you have something a mite more valuable than this here cargo, and I can't see the point of trading for meager coins when I can have more. Papers more in fact."

"I can't say I know what it is you're talking about Sully, nor can I say I want to know. What I do want, if you would be so kind, is my coin and for you to take this cargo, as was promised."

"A girl is what she said. A girl and her brother. The Alliance will pay good money for em'. Good money indeed."

"This woman wouldn't happen to have tried to marry you would she?" Mal asked, "Because if she did I'm afraid you'll find no truth in what she says. She's my wife see, and we didn't exactly part on the best of terms."

Sully pointed his gun at Mal's head. "Shut your mouth Mal. I'm sick of hearing you talkin'."

Sully put his fingers to his mouth and whistled. Out of the dark came a hulking man, and in his arms, caught in a headlock, was Jayne. Mal cringed, and swore under his breath.

"Now, if you should be wanting this here man of yours back, I'm going to need to have my men here search your vessel."

"I wouldn't be so quick to assume that you will be able to search my boat Sully, nor that I care in the least about that oaf you got there. I've been meaning to drop him on some deserted moon anyhow."

"I can't believe that Mal, good man like you." He shook the gun pointed at Mal, drawing everyone's attention to it. "Now, step aside."

"I can't do that."

Sully cocked the gun, the click seemed to echo out over the landscape.

"Do it," he threatened.

* * *

Mal and Sully were still trying to stare each other down when hell broke loose. It started at the back of Sully's posse, with a man who gasped in pain, and feel to his knees. Buried deep in his neck was the wooden shaft of an arrow.

"What the he-" Sully started. He never finished. The next arrow went through his ear, and he fell like a stone, hitting the ground with a loud thump.

Panic set into his men, and they swung around trying to get a look into the dark as to their secret enemy. The next man took an arrow in the eye, the man standing next to him screamed and ran off into the distance, forgetting about the mules. He took two to the back before the screaming stopped. Now there were three. The man holding Jayne looked warily around him, Jayne's eyes were filled with panic.

"Get me out of here Captain," he managed, before his captors hold increased, and he couldn't speak.

"Who's out there?" Jayne's captor yelled into the darkness. "Show yourself."

There was silence, until the familiar whooshing sound of feathers and wood sliced through the quiet, and two more arrows found their marks in the other men. Groaning and crying in the dirt, they twitched as they began to bleed out.

Panic was beginning to show on the remaining man, who was more than aware that the Firefly's crew appeared to be safe from this attack. He turned to the darkness, using Jayne as a shield.

"Beware!" he yelled, "You wouldn't want to hit your crewman!" He turned to Mal, "Stop them, I will give this man up. You can take the coin too, just don't kill me!"

"Now," Mal said, "I have to say that whoever's out there, ain't apart of my crew."

"Then who is-" He took a sharp intake of breath, his last, as the arrow found it's mark, via his back, in his heart. With a startled yelp, Jayne untangled himself from the arms of the man, and stumbled into the ship behind Mal.

"What the hell is going on?" Jayne asked, his voice shaking.

"I'll be damned if I have a clue," Mal replied, and then he yelled into the night, "We mean you no harm! Show yourself!"

"We mean him no harm?" Jayne whispered, "Far as I see it, he's the one harming everyone!"

Mal turned to Wash, Simon and the girls, who were still in the ship, observing the happenings.

"Best be making yourself scarce about now I think," he said, and they made to go to higher ground, where they couldn't be seen.

But everyone stopped and turned, as there was a sound of a twig breaking on the plain. Outside the circle of light, Mal could make out the shadow of a person. He felt Jayne and Zoe tense up behind him. The shadow walked into the light, and Mal's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"What the hell?" Jayne exclaimed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The problem with the dark, Mal thought, is that you can never really be sure that what you're seeing is real. If you can't see it properly, who's to say it isn't real, or at least isn't what it first appears. But there didn't seem to be changing what had stepped out of the shadows, and into the light of the ship.

A girl, well, a woman really, but young. She couldn't have been anymore than twenty-two by Mal's reckoning, although her eyes showed more years. But she held herself tall and her strength was obvious from the glare she shot to Jayne, silencing his tongue. Very briefly she scanned the other occupants of the ship, but her gaze soon settled on Mal, where it remained. Mal didn't really know what to say. His jaw hung slack as he took in this girl, who had more or less saved his crew, and with what? That little piece of wood slung across her shoulder? He had seen fires eat up more in seconds.

Mal finally found his tongue, "Why, hello there," he managed to keep his tone friendly, although his hand hovered close to his weapon.

The girl didn't speak.

"I hope you don't mind my asking," Mal said, "I mean, we're real thankful you decided to step in when you did and sort out our little, problem. But who are you exactly?"

The girl opened her mouth, pauses for a second, then said, "Shae, my name is Shae."

"Shae huh. My name is Malcolm Reynolds, and I captain this here vessel."

"Yes," Shae whispered, "_Serenity._"

Her body swayed for a moment and she fell to the ground unconscious.

Mal looked at her a second, then turned to Zoe.

"That was different," he observed.

"Not arguing with you there Cap," Zoe replied, her eyes fixed on Shae, "What do you intend to do with the girl."

"She saved our lives, no doubt about that, but she's dangerous too," He yelled into the ship, "Doctor, I've got a patient for you!"

Simon hurried out into the night, crouching in front of Shae, his eyes busily scanning her for injuries.

"What appears to be wrong with her?" Mal asked.

"I can't say for sure, but she looks malnourished."

"Malnourished? Like she ain't getting enough food?" Jayne said in the background.

"Yes, that's right. The way she is now, and with the exhaustion from taking down these men, we can't just leave her here." Simon looked up at Mal expectantly.

Mal bit his lip in thought for a moment, his eyes narrow as he considered his options. He sighed heavily.

"We can't very well leave her on this rock can we? Best bring her inside doc," Mal said and he motioned for Jayne to help the Doctor carry her into the infirmary. Simon left the weapon on the dirt, and Mal reached down to pick it up.

"What do you make of this Zoe?" he asked.

"Can't rightly say sir," she said, "I suppose we'll have to wait til she wakes up to find out."

"I know what that it," Shepherd Book said, having approached Mal in the commotion.

Mal looked at him surprised, "You do?"

"Yes, I saw one once in a museum for Earth That Was. It's a weapon that primitive people used. Although, I've never seen one made out of wood, the one in the museum was made from metal."

"Primitive people huh?" Mal said, lost in thought again, "Where would she have gotten herself one of these?"

No-one answered, but the thought remained in everyone's mind.

"No use sitting around waiting for someone else to come and cause more problems," Mal gripped the bow and went over to Sully relieving him of a bag of coin.

"What do you want us to do with the cargo?" Zoe asked.

"I'd say to keep it, and see if we can sell it off somewhere else, but knowing the trouble that marked goods brings, I'd say we're best off to leave it here, with Sully and his crew, as promised. Unload it."

"Yes sir," Zoe said, and she went to help Wash wheel the trolley loaded up with cargo down the ramp.

"Oh and while you're there Zoe," Mal started, "You'd best be making sure that Sully doesn't have any other gifts to give."

Zoe nodded silently and emptied out the pockets of Sully and his crew. Wash took one last look at the night, and the grass blowing in the slight breeze, before turning his back, and heading inside.

"Let's get out of here," Mal said, and with a thud, he closed the hull behind him.

* * *

River pressed her face up against the window of the infirmary and watched her brother Simon work over the girl. In the light, River could see her face was pale once, but had been honeyed by the sun. Her hair hung in dirty dreadlocks, blonde maybe. River wasn't sure. There was something about this girl. A pain. She could feel it inside her, wanting to get out. Wanting to be free. Kaylee walked up behind her.

"She sure is strange huh?" Kaylee observed.

River didn't answer, but she rarely would so Kaylee felt no hurt from it. She joined River at the window as Simon, having finished cleaning some cuts and scratches on the girl's face, checked his needles and her vitals before walking out of the room.

"How is she?" Kaylee asked.

"She'll be fine for now, but she'll need to wake and eat before she gets any closer to being mended."

"So there's nothing really wrong with her?"

"I didn't say that," Simon said, not really sure how to explain it, "She's hurt for sure, but they're old wounds."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'll explain later," Simon touched her hand reassuringly, "I have to speak with the Captain."

He hurried off towards the cockpit.

Kaylee turned to River, "Does he ever make sense?"

River didn't smile, "Words and lines. Scars on scars."

Kaylee stared hard at her for a moment, but she had no more understanding of River than she did of her brother. Shaking her head she turned and plodded off to the engine room. At least _Serenity_ never had any secrets.

* * *

Simon stepped into the cockpit, interrupting a conversation between Mal, Zoe and Wash.

"All I'm saying is, we should be careful. We don't know this girl. Don't know where she comes from," Wash was saying. Mal silenced him with a wave of his hand as Simon walked in.

"How's our patient doc?" He asked, motioning Simon into their circle of conversation.

"She'll live, most of her injuries stem from her malnutrition as opposed to actual wounds, not that she doesn't have any of them."

"I don't follow," Mal's brow furrowed.

"I was doing an examination, and well I'm not quite sure what to make of it exactly."

Simon looked at his hands, as though unsure of how to continue.

"Just spit it out boy! What's wrong with her?" Mal said, losing his patience.

Simon hesitated again, and then took a deep breath. "It's not what's wrong with her now as much as what she appears to have been through. Her entire body is covered with scars. I've never seen-"

"Scars?" Zoe interrupted.

"All over her?" Wash added.

Simon nodded. "Yes, all over her, and in every place a person might think to get hurt."

"So what exactly are you sayin'?" Mal asked.

"As it stands Captain, I have to assume that she's some kind of torture victim, or perhaps a warrior, although the latter seems unlikely."

"Why not?" said Wash, "She certainly has the aim to be a good fighter."

"If the doctor is right, and she is some kind of super assassin, I think we need to get her off this boat as soon as we can manage," Zoe crossed her arms and looked to the Captain.

"Nobody is being thrown off this boat. We don't know anything for sure yet, so let's not do anything foolish. Doc, I want you to show me what you mean. Zoe, you can come too."

With that, Mal strode out of the cockpit, closely followed by Simon and Zoe, leaving Wash slouched in the pilot's chair, wondering what he was doing here.

* * *

On the infirmary table, Shae lay motionless. Under the harsh artificial lights, her skin appeared grey, pulled taunt over her cheekbones. Her body was covered by a white sheet, which stopped at her collarbone. Where he was standing on the other side of the room, Mal could see her eyeballs moving in their sockets, causing her eyelids to tremor.

"Ok Doc, what am I looking at here?" he said.

Simon stepped up to Shae and carefully pulled the sheet back, exposing her torso to the light. Mal couldn't stop himself from inhaling sharply. Next to him he briefly registered Zoe doing the same. The doctor was right. This one certainly had been through the wars. There wasn't part of her torso (that he could see at least, for her breasts were contained within a white, tubular bra) that wasn't home to some scar. He saw scars from tearing, from knives, from guns and all sorts of other dangerous bits and pieces. His mind was alive with possibilities. Was she some sort of warrior? Or was she the victim of some manic soul, a Shan Yu mimic who saw fit to carve his will upon her?

Mal took a cautious step towards her, utterly lost in the violent scarious that played out in his head. It didn't seem right that she had suffered all that. She was so young in his eyes. No older, he reckoned, than River, and certainly younger than Kaylee, although her face held none of their youthful glimmer.

He turned abruptly away from the girl and to Zoe.

"Well Zoe," he said, resting his hands in the loops of his pants, "What do you think of this-"

He never finished. Before he could think to get out of the way he felt a blow knock the wind out of him and an iron glad grip encircled his throat. He tried to kick away, struggling to breathe but found his attackers knee placed in such a way that every movement caused pain to erupt, leaving his blinded by white spots of agony. He stopped a moment to get his thoughts together, noticing Zoe had cocked her pistol and was pointing it at his attacker, who was of course the girl, now somehow mobile and recovered. Mal gasped and went rigid as he felt the cold metal of a scalpel make its mark on his throat. The blood felt too warm as it trickled down his collar.

Suddenly there was the sound of a second pistol being cocked, and Simon voice rang out.

"I suggest you let the Captain go, because I will not hesitate in pulling this trigger."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Shae looked Simon up and down, keeping the scalpel very close, too close in Mal's opinion, to his throat.

"Do you know what this scalpel is above?" Shae hissed.

Simon gulped. "His jugular," he said, "If you cut it he'll bleed out in a matter of minutes."

Mal's eyebrows peaked and he tried to motion to Simon to shoot the girl, but his frantic signaling was met with a look of confusion.

"You don't want to hurt him Shae," Zoe said calmly, "After all, we're out in the black here. There's nowhere for you to go."

Shae ignored Zoe, "What were you doing to me?" Her slate eyes fixed on Simon.

"Just an examination," Simon said, trying to stop his gun-holding hand from shaking. "I had to make sure you were healthy, that you weren't going to die, or make anyone sick."

"And them," she gestured her head at Zoe, "What were they doing looking at me?"

"Your scars, they just," he swallowed heavily, sweat beading on his brow, "They just wanted to see for themselves, I couldn't explain it."

"I ain't some exhibition to be gawked at," Shae spat, glaring at Zoe.

"I know, I know that. I wasn't, they weren't gawking at you. They just needed to know you weren't a threat to them. To the crew."

A smile broke out on her lips. "Do you think I'm a threat now?" She asked sarcastically.

"Well, if you are trying to make a point, you've certainly made one…"

"Good." Shae released Mal, pushing him across the room where he promptly fell to his knees. Scrambling to regain his defense, he managed to get to his feet, and quickly drew his weapon.

Shae raised her hands above her head and dropped the scalpel. The sudden silence made the sound of its fall echo eerily. Relaxing somewhat, Simon lowered his weapon.

"You know, if you were trying to make a good impression on us, you've failed." Mal said, keeping his gun pointed towards Shae's head.

"I wasn't trying to make any impression. I don't know who you are, I was just trying to gauge the kind of folk you is."

"And your conclusion?" Mal asked.

"You ain't good people to the line, but you're good enough that I knew you weren't going to shoot me Doctor," she paused, that grin returning, "Of course that was mostly cos your safety's on." Simon looked at the gun in his hand, his face turning a rather scarlet shade.

"You said you wanted to gauge us, but you knew the name of our ship. Care to explain that little gem to us?"

"Of course I knew the name of your ship. The adventures of _Serenity_ and her crew have spread further than you'd think. And I've found myself in a travelling spot so, I've heard my fair share of your exploits. Although, my favourite has to be the job you pulled at Arial. To take from the Alliance is one thing, but to do it right under their noses? You're are legends!"

"Legends huh?" Mal said, a mix of pride and worry in his voice. He knew that they weren't good at covering their tracks, but this public attention would cause them nothing but harm.

"Before we get too caught up in anything Captain, might I suggest we find out a little more about this girl here. Like who she is and how she ended up on the wrong side of a smugglers moon?"

"Yes, of course," Mal brought his gun, which had fallen slightly, back up to it's position mere centimeters from Shae's head, "Who are you?"

* * *

Shae sat at the kitchen table in front of Mal. Simon sat off to this side, still trying to calm himself, and still his beating heart. He looked at Shae, her demeanor was hard to read. Zoe stood watchfully behind Shae, gun at the ready. Subconsciously biting his lip as he considered the situation, Mal cleared his throat.

"So," he said, "This situation you've found yourself in a mite strange, from my side anyway, but as I have already let you on my boat I figure that you're owin' me. And if you're not prepared to tell me exactly who you are, and where you came from, I think that you should know I am prepared to drop you onto the nearest dead moon. _Dohn mah_?"

Shae nodded, looking at her hands for a moment, feeling the calluses that covered them, and remembering all she had fought through to get here. She wasn't about to be left behind, again.

"Ok then, glad to hear it," Mal said, "Let's start with the basics: Who are you and how did you end up on the wrong side of Beylix?"

"Well," Sahe began, "I've been in and out with slavers most of my life. I never knew my folks. I think that maybe once I was intended to be a house slave, in the core, cos they start em young for that, but I was too wild. In the training house, I once bit another kid's ear off. That's me, always lookin' for a fight."

Wash had happened to walk in just in time to hear Shae relay her childhood ear biting adventures. He regarded Shae with a mix of disgust and intruige. Mal waved him to a seat, not wanting him to interrupt. Not that he would, thought Wash, this sounded very interesting.

"I got moved here and there," continued Shae after a moment, "But most of the time I didn't stay very long, not havin' much of a head for being controlled by anyone. Then when I was bout ten I got bought up by a low level landlord, had say over a nice piece of land out on the rim. He fancied himself somewhat of a historian, had a great knowledge of Earth-That-Was. Ran a kind of gamblin' house, but for fighters. Called us Gladiators."

Mal raised his eyebrows at Zoe, who shrugged.

"I didn't know what he meant either. Showed me a book on it once, real old. Not that it mattered to me, I got no knowledge for letters. But he made us fight using real different weapons, like the one I used on Beylix. Said I was a natural, there wasn't anything I couldn't do when it came to fightin'. I was a real money maker for him too, but you know how it goes. Ain't nothing lasts forever."

She paused again and moved her eyes to Mal, trying to read his expression. He nodded for her to continue.

"In the end, he got under the noses of some people higher up the line. Before we knew it he was dead, and what was left of the Gladiators was auctioned off to Slavers at a profit. But like I said, I ain't never been all that good with being controlled. When the slavers stopped over on Beylix to make the sales, myself and what was left of the other Gladiators took a stand. We managed to get free of em, but lost most of our fighting men. So they left us there, wounded and without any kind of rations to speak of. A few of them what was left decided to make the walk to the other side, lookin' for farmhouses, but I told them ain't no way they was gonna make it. In the end I stayed where I was. And I was there for a while, until you came along."

She looked up expectantly, having dropped her gaze as she spoke. Wash broke the silence.

"So you're some kind of warrior?"

Mal silenced him with a look before Shae had time to answer, then turned back to her.

"So what was that weapon you used to take down those men?" Zoe asked suddenly, leaving Mal once again glaring, but she ignored him.

"It's called a bow," Shae said. "People in the old world used it, before they had guns and the like."

"And what, you made it?" Mal asked.

"Yep. Out of a tree and the insides of some critters."

"Wow. That's, I don't think I can listen to this," Wash spoke up, "Just wanted to tell you Captain that we've had word on another job."

Mal looked up suddenly, "From who?"

"Maloney and Farris, those cousins who run trade on Greenleaf." Said Wash, and he walked out of the kitchen.

"Greenleaf?" Mal asked Zoe, then it dawned on him. "Ah, jungle planet. Shiny…"

He considered Shae for a moment, she was still sitting at the table, listening in with barely veiled curiosity.

"Watch the girl Doc," he said, and he motioned for Zoe to follow him outside the room. At the door he turned back to Shae, "Don't go doing anything that would make my trust in you seem unfounded."

Shae nodded, and turned her eyes on the doctor.

"So, what kinds of stuff do you do here for fun?"

* * *

Mal and Zoe walked into the cockpit where Wash was playing with his dinosaur figurines. He was so engrossed in his game he didn't hear their footsteps on the walkway and it was only when Mal cleared his throat, and tried to suppress his chuckling, that Wash became aware of their arrival.

"Uh, Captain, sir. You'll be wanting to get into contact with Maloney. I'll just set that up." Throwing the toys aside he quickly punched in a few keys to the system, and rose to allow Mal to take the chair.

Mal sat heavily as a face appeared on the screen. Maloney was by no means an old man, but his hair was a premature shade of silvery-grey, and a less than relaxing occupation as a grower and distributor of blackmarket medicinal plants had left its mark. His eyes seemed to have sunk within his head, and his brow was heavily furrowed. Upon seeing Mal, he got straight to business.

"Mal, greetings from Greenleaf."

Mal nodded his welcome, "How's business?"

"Business is booming as usual my friend. In fact, it's booming so much that I'm in need of another ship with which to move it."

"I see. Where might this business need to go?"

"Aberdeen," Maloney said, and Mal took a sharp breath.

So close to Hera. He hadn't been there in a long time. Hadn't needed to. Hadn't wanted to.

"Is there a problem Mal?" Maloney asked, seeing Mal's face change.

"No, no problem at all. We should have no trouble doing that." Mal reassured him.

"Good. When can I expect you?"

"Well, we're not too far outside Beylix now, so we'll send you a wave when we hit atmo and you can send us your location."

"I understand. I'll be in touch." Maloney nodded once to Mal before ending the wave.

Mal rose from the seat, his face impossible to read.

"We don't have to do this Mal," Zoe said, "We could have refused the job."

Mal shook his head.

"No. Once Sully and his men have been found the trail is going to lead to us, and finding work is going to be very, very hard. We've worked with Maloney before, and moving the plants is good coin."

"Are we going to stop at Hera?" Zoe asked.

"We should. Can't avoid old demons forever."

And with that he walked out of the cockpit, leaving Zoe to watch him go as Wash looked on, not sure if he should comfort his wife.

"Hera is where Serenity Valley is, isn't it?"

Zoe avoided her husband's eyes, unable to stop her own from hardening at the memories.

"Yes," she said, and she too left the cockpit.


End file.
